A Lithuanian man has avoided a jail sentence after admitting possession of a stolen Audi seized during a garda investigation into the theft of high end vehicles from homeowners in Dublin and Kildare.

Paulius Taracvius (34) of Prospect Hill, Tolka Valley Road, Finglas pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of stolen property at McAuley’s Yard, Flemington, Balbriggan on September 20, 2013.

The yard was raided following surveillance as part of an investigation into the dismantling and shipping aboard of high end stolen vehicles.

Judge Martin Nolan suspended a two year prison sentence after saying he accepted that the only part Taracvius had to play in the criminal operation was to deliver the stolen Audi Q3 to the yard.

During the garda raid four stolen cars with a total value of €100,000 were recovered, the court heard.

The four vehicles, an Audi A5, the Audi Q3, a Nissan Qashqai and a BMW 3-series had been stolen from Rathmines, Rathgar and Celbridge in Kildare in September 2013. In most cases the keys of the vehicles had been fished from the owner’s home through the letterbox.

The remains of two Mercedes 3 Series vehicles, license plates and petrol tanks, were also found in a lock-up in the yard. These cars had been stolen in June 2013.

At a previous sentence hearing another man who was paid €100 a week to strip high-end stolen vehicles so that car parts could be shipped on to Eastern Europe was sentenced to three years.

Lithuanian mechanic Nerigus Flederis (34) who was living in “a filthy caravan with no running water” in McAuley’s Yard, Flemington, Balbriggan at the time, had secured the job after meeting a man in a nightclub.

Flederis said he received €100 a week to dismantle the cars during which he would remove engines, seats, doors and glass before the parts would be placed in boxes. He was present when a lorry arrived at the yard to take a container and said he was aware that this container was later shipped to Lithuania.